A FORMER soldier flouted his driving ban after a friend offered him use of his car.

Andrew Lumb was banned from the wheel for 38 months in February 2011 after drink-driving.

But at 1am on December 6 he was spotted driving by police on Gledholt Bank at Gledholt.

Officers checked the Police National Computer which revealed that Lumb should not have been driving.

Lumb, of Rawthorpe Lane, Dalton, admitted driving whilst disqualified and without insurance.

Bob Carr, mitigating, told Kirklees magistrates that it was the first time his client had ignored the ban.

Magistrates were told that the 30-year-old had been out with a friend in Halifax.

His friend was subject to court-ordered curfew and realised that he had to get home.

The friend then offered Lumb his car so that he could get home to Huddersfield.

The bench heard that Lumb had served in the Army for five years until 2005.

This year the father-of-two enrolled in a plumbing course at Kirklees college.

Mr Carr said: “He served honourably in the Army and late in life has gone back a step to college.

“He shows responsibility, going from the Army to the bottom of the pile.

“(But) this is a man who behaved irresponsibly on this particular evening.”

Magistrates gave Lumb a community order for 12 months.

This includes a 30-day activity requirement and an electronically monitored curfew for 26 weeks between 8pm and 5am.

Magistrates ordered him to pay £85 court costs and £60 victim surcharge.

They also banned Lumb from driving for 24 months.